In Defense of Chaos

Ohio Governor and former presidential candidate John Kasich’s interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on September 5th should make one wonder whether he is apprehensive about Donald Trump’s governing style, or he is a sore loser. Perhaps the Governor’s droning on about the chaos in the White House that, in the Governor’s view, is preventing things from “getting done” might be an indication of the latter – how could Trump, of reality TV, win the presidency over an established long-time politician?

One could point that maybe some in the electorate are seeing through established long-time politicians, and one could point to the uncontrollably agitated behavior of the anti-Trump resistance as an indication that a lot is getting done – none of which desired by The Establishment. Also, one could point that the challenges not being solved that the Governor ascribes to Trump’s chaotic style have been around for decades, unsolved by previous Presidents.

By the way, never mind Governor Kasich’s statement in the Cuomo interview that Senator John McCain was “put to death,” since we have no idea what he meant by that.

Now for the Subject at Hand: Chaos

Governor Kasich and many other Establishment folk excoriate Trump’s chaotic governing style. Do such critics understand the nature of the word “chaos?” Here are two examples of this complex and interesting word as it could relate to President Donald Trump’s governing style.

* Mythology

Chaos was – most Greek cosmologies tell us – the very first of all, the origin of everything, the empty, unfathomable space at the beginning of time … Chaos was the primal feature of the universe, a shadowy realm of mass and energy from which much of what is powerful (and mostly negative and dark) in the world would stem forth in later genealogies. Chaos, Greek Mythology

The scenario in 2016 featured a $19.57 trillion national debt, a moribund manufacturing sector that wiped out the earnings potential of a vast portion of U.S. workers, 21.3% of the U.S. population in some form of public assistance, and a gargantuan bureaucracy supported by more taxes than taxpayers would like.

To fix such scenario, one would need a clean slate, dismantling much of the entrenched status quo. What better way to accomplish such an objective than through chaos – the origin of everything, negative and dark to any opposing force.

* Business Structures

Organizations are focused on structure and design. Charts are drawn to illustrate who is accountable to whom or who plays what role and when … They build models of organizational practice and policy with hope that this atomizing yields better information on how to improve the organization’s functioning. However, chaos theory implies that this is unnecessary, even harmful.

As the global economy and technology continue to change the way business is conducted on a daily basis, evidence of chaos is clearly visible. While businesses could once succeed as “non-adaptive,” controlling institutions with permanently-installed hierarchical structures, modern corporations must be able to restructure as markets expand and technology evolves. Chaos Theory

In other words, the order and structure cherished by today’s Establishment is useless in today’s chaotic world, unless the uselessness is beneficial in perpetration of The Establishment.

Results

The bottom line of any undertaking are results. Are policies promised during Trump’s campaign being accomplished? Most unbiased observers — as well as CNN interviewer Chris Cuomo, who spoke with Governor Kasich — would say “yes.” Unfortunately, such results are most worrisome to the Trump opposition. And thus, the misinterpretation of the word “chaos.”

Chaos is the non-linear way to restructure the status quo, available to any political persuasion. Remember, for example, the chaos generated by anti Vietnam War demonstrators, or by civil rights workers? Chaos was the most effective way of making their vision of the world a reality.